Delays

I saw somewhere, probably several somewheres, that several of Marvel's Civil War books are going to be delayed.

It's not a surprise, because delays are common.

It's not a disappointment, because while I've been enjoying the book, I'm not on the edge of my seat about it.

But it's not a good thing.

[Grumpy old lady mode on]

I don't remember comic books being delayed when I was a kid. Possibly it happened and I just didn't keep track enough to know, but I'm pretty sure that, most years, when you got a monthly comic, you got twelve issues.

You know, because when you've got a job and you can't meet a deadline, the boss will find someone who can.

[Grumpy old lady mode off]

But like I said, I'm not feeling the pain on this one because I'm not all that invested in the storyline.

And I'll be even less so after it's been an extra month or so since the last time I got a glimpse of Civil War.

Remember when the new Iron Man series came out? I like Iron Man, I always tend to buy his book. First issue, the art was very cool, the story interesting, the characterization good. This one I looked forward to. This one was an edge-of-the-seat thing. I started out loving it. But the wait for those six issues! By the time the last two or three books arrived, I had lost any momentum of interest that had built with the first few issues, and while I enjoyed the book I really was no longer all that invested in the storyline. If I wasn't a regular comic buyer--if I was someone who just walks into the shop and picks up what looks interesting that week--I might have given it up.

Because while there are many good things about serialized media--they maintain your interest (good for the reader), they keep you coming back to see what happens next (good for the publisher)--there's a limit to how long a person is going to wait. There will be a point where you just lose interest.

To some extent this has to do with expectations.

You'll wait years for the next part of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings because you know that's how long a movie will take.

You'll wait for the next part of a sci-fi novel trilogy for the same reason.

A comic book? Unless the book is established at the start as other than monthly (bi-monthly, quarterly?), you'll wait a month for your next fix, maybe two, maybe three if the book is exceptional. (Most books are not exceptional. Civil War, while thus far enjoyable, is not exceptional.) After that, you've moved on--the intensity of your interest in that particular book/character/storyline has faded. You eventually stop looking eagerly on the shelves for that particular book, and perhaps you stop looking at all.

Kid-oriented books in particular need to be on time. We get our comics online, and there has been an issue of Scooby Doo in every single box. The other books they like? Well, Young Avengers has been late a few times, but that's not really a kid book. So far all of the kid-specific books we've ordered have been reasonably timely. Whether this is because they're quicker to put together or because the companies in fact recognize that they need to hold on to kids' attention or they'll lose it, I don't know.

What they don't seem to recognize is that adult readers aren't necessarily going to be any more patient.